In certain applications, such as lesion marking, segmentation, and taking measurements, a user needs to indicate a three-dimensional (3D) location on a structure of interest shown in a view of a 3D region. Often there are multiple structures in the view, so that navigating a pointer towards the location on the structure of interest may be difficult. In certain applications, visualizing a pointer in a view of a 3D region is enhanced by superposing a shadow, also called a footprint, on visible structures in the view of the 3D region. The shadow gives a user a feedback on the location of the pointer. A problem with this approach is that the shadow may indicate both the structure of interest and a structure in the background when the shadow is too large, or that the shadow is hardly visible when the shadow is too small.